Mike McCallister
Posted April 29, 2025
As word spreads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, rapid organization of three demonstrations over the weekend put Trump’s thugs on notice that this prosecution will not stand.
On the morning of April 25, FBI agents arrested Dugan in her office at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on federal charges of obstructing a US agency and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest.
Shortly thereafter, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on Twitter/X that “Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on charges of obstruction – after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi also tweeted: “I can confirm that our @FBI agents just arrested Hannah Dugan – a county judge in Milwaukee – for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid an arrest by @ICEgov.”
Immigrant supporters assert that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents looking to arrest people in the courthouse represent a threat to folks walking through the building. ICE agents have arrested two other people in the courthouse since January 20th.
The Milwaukee County Courthouse is where the County Board meets, and many county agencies have offices in the building. Anyone who fears winding up in a Salvadoran torture prison while picking up a marriage license at the County Clerk’s office, much less appearing as a witness in court, might stay away.
What Happened?
The charges against Dugan stemmed from an incident on April 18. Eduardo Flores-Ruiz appeared before Judge Dugan on misdemeanor battery charges after a fight with his roommates. Prosecutors added a domestic violence charge because one roommate was a woman.
Prior to the hearing, the agents told Dugan’s bailiff that ICE agents were in the building to arrest Flores-Ruiz as an illegal immigrant. According to the criminal complaint, the bailiff’s report to Dugan about the federal agents in the courthouse angered the judge. When she finished with Flores-Ruiz’s case, she directed Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer to leave through a side door leading to a non-public area of the courthouse.
The feds, from the FBI, ICE and the Drug Enforcement Agency, saw Flores-Ruiz get on an elevator, and eventually chased him down outside the courthouse. He is now in a detention facility, 60 miles away from Milwaukee.
Movements respond
People reposted Patel’s tweet on several online immigrant rights and Palestine solidarity forums. The immigrant rights organization Voces de la Frontera (VdlF) asked people to come out to the federal courthouse at noon, when Dugan appeared for her arraignment.
VdlF asked people to return to the federal courthouse at 3pm, and 300 people showed up.
Democratic State Senator Chris Larson spoke, stating that: “Fascism has a way of ruining your Friday, doesn’t it?”
Nick Ramos of the election reform group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign also spoke at the gathering, declaring that “Courts are for justice, not for raids. We are all entitled to seek justice. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced.”
Michael Rosen, retired president of American Federation of Teachers Local 212 at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, referenced the experience of his aunt, an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor: “The Nazis didn’t start with concentration camps,” Rosen said. “They started out by attacking already marginalized people. We’re seeing the same strategy here, with immigrants and LGBT people. Hands off Hannah Dugan.”
The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR) also called a demonstration on Saturday at the local FBI office, to allow those working on Friday to let their voices be heard.
On Saturday, some 1000 people gathered outside the FBI offices on the city’s southeast side with a lovely view of the lakefront. Even the local chapter of the 350.org climate activist group posted the event to their mailing list!
Several Palestinian flags flew at the rally, and Janan Hajeeb of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine spoke.
Chris Van Valkenburg, representing the UW-Milwaukee Popular University for Palestine Coalition and the students who organized last spring’s 14-day encampment demanding the university administration break ties with Israel, said: “When the students and community come together, that’s when real change comes to the universities.”
State Representative Ryan Clancy, a DSA member, spoke, stating that “[Dugan’s arrest] is not OK. Functioning democracies do not lock up judges.” He attacked the Trump government’s aim to consolidate unchecked executive power, represented by this arrest. “Chaos is the point. You are the check on that unchecked power.”
Noting Dugan’s bravery in challenging the FBI, he warned that “we’re all going to need a lot of that” in the coming months.
Public Statements
Wisconsin Service Employees International Union (SEIU) issued a joint statement with Voces de la Frontera and the Working Families Party calling for dropping the charges against Dugan:
“The FBI’s arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan is intended to strike fear across the judiciary and assert the Trump Administration’s goal of making the president’s power absolute.
“This arrest is another example of Donald Trump’s relentless assault on the system of checks and balances that define our democracy.
“Trump and his collaborators like Kash Patel and Pamela Bondi are taking a wrecking ball to our democracy.
“ICE’s presence in our courthouse is an unconscionable assault on our public safety,” Milwaukee DSA leader Andy Barbour said. “We must all oppose this administration’s efforts to harm the immigrants in our community, as well as this administration’s attempts to intimidate those who fight for justice.”
Next up:
This week’s Day Without Immigrants/May Day march, organized every May 1st since 2006 by Voces de la Frontera. The struggle continues.
Signs:
Milwaukee is cold enough! We don’t need ICE
No cooperation with deportation
Charge Ka$h Patel with obstruction of our state courts
ICE out of our -Schools -Churches -Courthouses
Photos:
https://www.facebook.com/VocesdelaFronteraWI
Friday demo recording:
Saturday demo recording:
https://fb.watch/zd8-nAuQP0/?mibextid=r5uJeJ
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